In the winter semester 2025/26, the Institute of Media Studies is organising the lecture series "Wissen, Wirken, Werden - Radikale Fragen an Wissenschaft, Kunst und Technik". Practices, places and challenges of contemporary knowledge production will be examined. The lecture series starts on Tuesday, 21 October at 7 pm with a lecture by the artist collective Quadrature from Berlin entitled "From Sputnik to Starshield: Artistic strategies of knowledge transfer using the example of the colonisation of the Earth's orbit". The lecture series is organised in cooperation with the Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum, which also serves as the venue for the event.

Quadrature

The duo Quadrature has been involved in the scientific exploration and technical colonisation of space for over ten years. Based on their own artworks as well as news and historical stories, the two artists describe how their practice balances poetic aesthetics, abstraction, real world politics and scientific facts. They explore the question of why their works do not emphasise the communication of pure knowledge, but rather additional dimensions and narratives about the social, societal and emotional effects of advancing technological developments and applications.

Knowing, working, becoming - radical questions about science, art and technology

The lecture series is dedicated to ways of producing knowledge beyond classical academic processes. It discusses contemporary forms of knowledge generation, examines digital infrastructures and knowledge archives and questions the distribution of power in determining what is considered knowledge. Scientific communication is addressed as well as the use of modern technologies that are constantly changing our perception of knowledge. Under what conditions can science act credibly and effectively? And what role do transparency, participation and critical reflection play in the production of knowledge?

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